Asamoah Gyan named in top 10 forgotten Ballon d’Or nominees
English football tabloid the Mirror has included former Black Stars skipper Asamoah Gyan and nine others in the top ten forgotten Ballon d’Or nominees.
The list has emerged ahead of the announcement of the 2019 FIFA Ballon d’Or winner on Monday evening in France.
READ MORE: ‘He’s very good’ – Fabregas praises Thomas Partey after Barcelona game
The three shortlisted players for the prestigious award are Lionel Messi who is the overwhelming favourite for the gong, Vigil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asamoah Gyan was the most-talked-about African striker in the 2010 FIFA World Cup as he scored three times to inspire Ghana to the quarter-finals- emerged as the third African country after Cameroon and Senegal to reach that feat in the Mundial.
Ghana could have been the first African country to reach the semis but Asamoah Gyan missed an extra-time penalty kick and Uruguay subsequently won the shootout to advance to the last four.
The former Udinese forward was signed by Sunderland following the FIFA World Cup and Steve Bruce, the manager of the Black Cats at the time stated that he was motivated to the seal the deal for the Ghanaian because he mustered the courage to step up for the first kick during the shootout after missing that crucial spot-kick in open play.
Asamoah Gyan was among the ten players nominated for the FIFA Golden Ball award for the best player of the tournament, which was eventually won Diego Forlan.
He was again shortlisted for the FIFA Player of the Year award and the Ballon d’Or in 2010. Gyan placed 18th in the voting.
Gyan was piped by Samuel Eto Fils, who equally had a fantastic season, but with his club Inter Milan when they made history by winning a treble- UEFA Champions League, Serie A and Copa Italia, which was the first in Italian football history.
Asamoah Gyan stayed with Sunderland for a short while and left for Al Ain in 2011. The 34-year-old Ghana had a successful spell there and his numbers with the national team even increased at the time.
The Black Stars striker after journeying from Al Ain to Shanghai SIPG in China back to UAE with Al Ahly then to Kayserispor has now landed at NorthEast United in the Indian topflight league
Asamoah Gyan in the twilight of his career seems to have been forgotten by a lot of people in the football cycles but definitely not in Ghana where he is revered for his prowess in front of goal.
After scouring the voting and shortlists over the last 15 awards, dating back to 2004, he's a list of 10 names which could easily be forgotten when mixed with some of the biggest superstars of all-time.
1) Juninho - 12th in 2005
2) Jens Lehmann - 10th in 2006
3) Frederic Kanoute - 11th in 2007
4) Rogerio Ceni - 27th in 2007
5) Younis Mahmoud - 29th in 2007
6) Andrey Arshavin - 6th in 2008
7) Marcos Senna - 11th in 2008
8) Diego - 25th in 2009
9) Asamoah Gyan - 18th in 2010
10) Rui Patricio - 12th in 2016
Post a Comment